Clothes-line support.



Iein. 704,020. Patented may 0, 5902.1

m. T. 000000 0 F. nAvls.

CLTHES LINE SUPPORT.

(80 Nudel.)

UNITED STATES ATENT Fries..

MINlIlORNET. GORDON ANI) FRAN l( DAVIS, OYFS'lAlLE'lYON, NEW YORK.

CLOTHES-LINE SUPPORT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 704,026, dated July 8, 1902. Application filed January 3, 1902. SerialNo. 884,291. '(Nn model.)

To {1f/l 11i/mm, it 'n1/(ty collec/1b.

13e it known that we, li'IIN'rnonNn T. Gon- DON and FRANK DAVIS, citizens of the United connection with clothes-lines that extend from the windows of their respective houses to poles or other appropriate supports located at some distance therefrom, and are availed of more particularly in connection with fiat-s, apartments, and tenements that are superposed the one above another. As ordinarily arranged` these clothes-lines are usually made endless and each extend at the end of` the reach nearest the house to which it is appropriate around a pulley suspended or otherwise jointed to the side or bottom of one of the windows thereof, and at the end of the reach farthest therefrom it passes around a similar' pulley secured to a pole or other appropriate support. With the lines disposed as thus described the clothes or' other articles are applied to their under stretches at the ends nearest their respective houses, and as fast as the ends are filled these stretches are moved outward toward their outer ends by moving their respective lines in the proper directions over their supportingpulleys. As thus applied, the clothes or other articles are, allowed to remain until they are dried or otherwise, when their removal from the lilies will be eifected at the windows where applied by a reversal of theseoperations, and so on. ln applying the clothes or other articles to and removing them from a line when thus arranged it is necessary ,fonl the person so engaged to leali out of the vviniy dow to a considerable distance, -which isa'n y y act that is accomplished with no little dany-.

ger and inconvenience when the articles be ing applied are large or heavy, and it not' infrequently happens as a consequence of this that accident and death result to suchperson by falling from the window, either by being drawn therefrom through the weight of the article being applied or removed or by the action of the wind thereon. To overcome 'these dangers and provide for applying ,the clothes or other articles to the line and yfor removing them therefrom entirely within the flat or other apartment, it has been es-v sayed to support the pulley over which the end of the line passes nearest the house at the free end of a. crane which is hinged or otherwise jointed at its other end to the side of the window and is free to be swung inward to the interior of such ilat or apartment with the portion o f the line passing over it when it is desired to apply the clothes or otherarticles thereto or remove them therefrom and outward from its interior when these opera'- tions are not required. 'lliis arrangement, while overcoming to a certain extent the danger incident to the application ol the clothes or other articles to and their removal from the line, has been found objectionable in practice principally because of the fact that as the line is disposed on the side of the crane toward which the latter moves when being swung outward from the flat or other apartment, and the holding of the crane in the different positions to which it may be swung is effected by a hook. and eye or other equivalent movable fastening device it is essential that after the clothes or otherarticles have been applied to the line the top and bottom stretches of the latter be carried by the hand of the operator around a hook or other projection disposed in approximation to the axis of motion of the supporting-crane before such crane is swung outward; otherwise or in case of the accidental release ot' the hook from itscoperating eye or of lthe other fastening means the violent swinging outward of thefsupporting-crane by the weight of the clothes or other articles upon the line will be eife'c'ted and the breaking of thesame or the deposition of the clothes or otherarticles upon nground below, or both, will be accomhed as a consequence thereof.

the objects of our invention are therefore ,tQlobviayte these last-mentioned objections ardgfl o 'gprovide a support for a clothesline whic 1 while permitting of the clothes orothcr articles being applied to and removed from the line wholly within the flatorvother apart- IOO ment shall automatically effect the locking of the crane in any of the positions to which it may be adjusted and at the same time be more simple in construction and'eliicient inoperawhich form a part of this specication, Figure l is an inside front elevation of a portion of a window and a portion of a supporting-pole with our invention applied in connection withthem, part of the window-frame being broken away; Fig. 2, a face view' of our invention detached from the window and drawn in perspective with portions of the clothes-line broken away; Fig. 3, aside elevation of the hanger by which the supporting-crane is secured to the window detached,

showing in addition a modified construction of pivot-pin and portions of the supportingcrane in dotted lines; Fig. 4,a sectional plan of such hanger, taken in the plane wa: in Fig.

3 looking downward and also showing in dotted lines the three several positions into which the supporting-crane may be adjusted; and Fig. 5, van edge View of the crane-supporting hanger looking from the right in Fig.

In all the figures like letters of reference are employed todesignate corresponding parts.

' A indicates aclothes-line, which is-preferv ably made endless by u niting the ends, as is nowf. customary, and B and B' the pulleys upon which it is supported. The pulley B is secured througha block or c'levis b to a pole C or other appropriate support which is located at the proper distance outside of the window D.` 'lhe pulley B, on the other hand,

instead of being secured bya block or clevis to the outside of the window D is journaled in the free end of a crane E, which is hinged or jointed to one side of the outer casing of the same, whereby to be free to be swung into the flat or other apartment when thel sash D' is raised, as shown in Fig. 1 and at a inFig. 4, or outward into either of the positions illustrated at a'or r1.2 in the latter figure.

For hinging or jointing the crane E tothe outer casing of the window D various means 'may be employed. vWeprefer, however,`to employ for this purpose a stand F, which is.

provided with two ears fand f', that project outwardly from its face, and to pivot the crane between these ears by a pivot-pin H,

which extends downward through the same and through the craneE and extends some distance above and below them, as shown more fully n Fig. 2. As thus arranged, the swinging of the crane into any of itsvarious positions may be Vreadily effected, and in order to prevent any slack being communicated to the line A when the crane is swung from themside of .the iiat or other apartment tothe out- 7o side thereof 'the line inextending from the pulley B to the pulley B' has both of its, upper'and under stretches passed'in rear of the pivot-pin ll or on the side thereof opposite to that in which the crane is'moved in being 75 swung from the position shown in Fig. l to either of the positions a and a2. (Shown -in Figli.) By this arrangement, as will be seen, whenever the crane is swung from the insidev to the outsideof the fiat or other apartment 8o the upper and under stretches of the line will be bent around the respective top and bottom end portions of the pivot ll, which will permit the outward swinging of the crane without slackening the line.

In some-instances the -pivot ll above and below the ears f and f will be constructed of substantially' the same size as the portions thereof that extend downward through the` latter, and with this construction only a very 9o small amount of the slack in the line A-will b e taken up by their peripheral surfaces as the line is bent around them in the outwardly-swinging movement of the crane. On the other hand, when it is desired to take up ya considerable amount of the slack in theli'ne when this loutwardly swinging movement takes place we sometimes find it' convenient to enlarge these upper and under end portions, as shown in Fig. 3, whereby their peloo ripheral lengths are increased, andthereby a greater amount of line required in bending it around them asthe swinging of the crane in an outward direction is being eiected.

For locking the crane E in any one of the' 105l positions to which it may be swung various expediente may be adopted. We prefer, however, to effect that result automatically, and

to that end we provide the lowerA earf' of the hanger F with an upwardly-extending iiange '1 1o f2 and'form through the walls of the same a number of notches f3, corresponding in number and location to the positions into-which it may be desirable to have the crane E swung. These notches are made of the 115 proper width to receive the lower edge of the crane, and when the latter is engaged'with one or the other of them it is firmly locked by it; .Whenthe crane is thus locked, its release from the notch, in' which it is thus en- 12o gaged will be eected by simply sliding the crane upward on its pivot Il until it is raised wholly above the upper edge of the iiangef, when it may be readily swung to the next notch and there allowed to descend automatically by its own gravity into the same and become locked thereby. In this position the crane will be positively retained until again raised from its engaging notch, when it will be again free tofbe swung to any other of its 13o various' positions that may be desired, and

in order to 'permit of this upward and downward sliding movement of the crane uponl its pivot H the portiony of the crane Ain the vicinp as shown by dotted lines in Fig. l and by full lines in Fig. 2. On the other hand, when clothes or other articles are applied to the um der stretch whatever slack there may be possessed by the line will be communicated thereto,and the stretch will thereby sag downward more or less away from the under side of the ear f When the weight of the clothes or other articles thus applied is slight, the Sag of the stretch will not be sucient to carry it below the lower end of the pivot II. 0n the contrary, when. this,weight is considerable the sag will be increased-'as shown, for instance, in full lines in Figfl and in dotted lines in Fig. 2-and in order to prevent it from carrying the stretch below the lower end of the pivot when the crane E is about to be swung outward we sometimes provide the lower end of lthe pivot`withV an underturned-hook h, into which the line will pass on the crane being swung outward or into which it may be passed by the hand of the operator before such swinging operation is effected. |The same result may also be accomplished when the hook 7L on the lower 'end f of the pivot H is dispensed with by employing in lieu thereof a hook h', which depends from the under side of the ear f to the proper distance and is bent -outward at its lower end beneath and across the line of the stretch las the latter extends from the pulley., B to the pulley B', as illustratedin Figs. 3 and 5, and either of these forms of construction may be employed as preferred and the apparatus operate with equal eilicieney. When the clothes or other articles are to be applied to the line, the under stretch, if not already in that relationship, will be removed from the inside to the outside of the hook 7L or h', as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and in that position it will be retained until they are applied thereto; but immediately that operation is completed the stretch, if it sags sufficient, will be returned to the inside of the hook, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, when the -crane maybe swung outward into either of the positions a,or a2 in Fig. 4 and the' sash D lowered. 0n the contrary, if the sag is not the stretch-downward to near or below the lower end of the pivot II when thus supplied with clothes or other articles then the stretch need not be returned to the `i-nteriorof the hook when the crane is swung outward, but be left outside ofthe same to bend around the pivot above i t as the crane `is carried outto the pulley B in rear of in close relationship thereto,

suiicient to carry ward in the swinging operation. With thc crane swung outward into either of the positions a or a2 it will remain locked until the application of other clothes or articles tol or their removal from the line is required, when4 the sash D' may be raised, the, crane again swung into theiiat or apartment, and the application or removalof the clothes or articles effected.

For securing the stand F to the windowcasing screwsf4 maybe employed or anyother equivalent means adopted for the purpose that may be preferred.

Whenthe crane E and other parts are made of iron or other material that would soil the clothes or other articles with rust if brought .in contact withl them, they may be coated with paint or japan, or the same may be galvanized with zinc, tin, orother appropriate material'usually employed .for this purpose.

With the crane and its supporting devices constructed and arranged as above described and .the upper and under stretches of the clothes-line disposed in rear of the pivot-pin 1I not only may the-inner portion of the line be swung into the dat or other apartment to receive the clothes or other articles to be applied thereto or to be removed therefrom and afterward be swung outward from the same, but all slack in the line prevented when this inner portion is swung from the interior of the iiat or apartment to the exterior of the same, and the strain incident to the Weight of the clothes or other articles is so communicated to the crane by the line as to prevent any tendency to a violent outwardly-swinging movement of thesamethereby.

Although in the foregoing we have described the best means contemplated by us for carrying our invention into practice, we wish it distinctly understood that we do not limit ourselves strictly thereto, as it is obvious that we may modify the same in various ways without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having now described our invention and specified certain of the ways in which it is or may be carried intoreect, we claim and dcsire to secu-re by Letters Patent of the United States; es n l. The combination in a clothes-line support, with a stand adapted to be secured to the windoW-casingor other support and provided with an upper and an under ear pro- IOO IIO

jecting from its face, the under of which ears is equipped with an upwardly-extending notched flange, of a cranepivoted between such ears and not only adapted to engage with the notches in such flange, but constructed of a depth slightly less than ythat between the upper ear and the upper edge of this upwardly-extending flange on the under ear, substantially as described.

2. The combination in a clothes-.line support, withda stand adapted to be Isecured to the side of a window or other support and prov vided with an upper and an under ear extending outward from its face, a. crane carrying :t

' pulley at its free end, a. pivot hy which this crane is pivoted between such ears provided' extending over and from one of these pulleys to :md over' the other on the side of the pivot opposite to that toward which the vcrane will move when being swung from the interior of a lat or other apartment to the exterior thereof and means for locking the crane inadjsted positions, substantially as described.

In witness whereof we have hereu'ntoset o ur respective' hands this 31st day of Doeem Ax5 ber, 1901.

MINT'IIORNE T. GORDON.' Y

FRANK DAVIS. i

l/Vitn'essesi:

WM. IL'APPLETON; R. F. SWEENY. 

